Per Frigus et Aestas
by xRiikox
Summary: KandaxOC. My first stab at wrting something apart from my normal genres.
1. Tia

**Per Frigus et Aestas **

**-Of Winter and Summer- **

**- **

**Pairing: OCxKanda **

**OC information: **

**Name: Tia Stadfeld **

**Age: Approximately 16 **

**Height: 6"2' **

**Hair: Long, wavy, blonde **

**Eyes: Light blue **

**Nationality: Half-German, half Japanese. **

**Temperament: Fiery, impulsive **

----

She remembered that night, vividly.

It had been twelve years ago, now; that cold winter night in Japan, Kyoto, where she had been born, and her mother, killed. The scent of blood, the pain from the protruding thorns, tearing out and up through the skin of her shoulders. They materialized only a few moments after the bands of intricate tattoos appeared on her skin, dark splotches of staining porcelain white. "Look, Papa," she remembered her young self saying, reaching her arms up to her father, and the horrified expression on his face when he saw them. And then it started. The vines were coal black, and glinted dully in the firelight, stained with her blood as their pointed ends slipped through the surface of her skin. Then the thorns came, sharp as knives, every little angular protrusion slicing through her flesh. She cried out, a high-pitched child's scream that cut through the black, frozen night.

The Akuma came.

Bloated creatures with distended bellies, the symbol of a star marking them. Halos above their big heads, a pair of fairy-like wings that sprouted from their backs. They resembled grossly distorted, nightmare caricatures of angels; that called out to one another in high-pitched children's voices that made Tia's head hurt. And the others were huge masses, small, pathetic faces painted with black streaks that_**would **_resemble tears; their gaping mouths and empty white pupils twisted into an expression that was very much like their last moments as humans, silent screams erupting from those mouths. And the _smell. _A stench that always accompanied their presence, the scent of something rotting; but worse, It was as if evil itself were decaying- it clogged her nose, choking her. She hadn't known the name for them then, only that they killed her mother, ripping her body open as if she were a mere doll. Warm blood splattered Tia's cheek as she tried to get away from the demons, sobbing from the pain of the vines that still grew. She crawled away on her hands and knees, dust from the now ruined house gathering under her fingers, gritty fragments of destruction.

A green glow spread throughout the entire site, calm compared to the earlier chaos, somehow, even though it blew up the distorted figures as it spread. Her father was at the centre of this light, arms spread wide and his face turned up to the frigid night sky. He could have been saying something, the words passing too fast over his lips for her to hear. As soon as it came, the light disappeared, leaving only a wreck, and her father walked over –a little unsteadily- to the corner in which she crouched. His face was shadowed by darkness, all emotion hidden.

"Everything's all right now. Let's go."

----

Tia found out, later.

Later, that everything was _not _all right. When they fled to Germany, that adults lied, in order to cover up their true intentions, the darkness in their hearts; like her father had, lying all the while about what he was, a pathetic attempt to mask their true selves. She found out, on a summer's day when she was on her way back from school, what it meant to be an exorcist. When the Black Order came for him.

She was young and naïve then, only twelve years old. Still happy and unknowing; when the scent of wildflowers on the wind could still make her smile. Her father had shouted at her to run, to get as far away as possible; before they silenced him, one stepping out from the other tan cloaks, the silver stripes on his uniform glinting in the sunlight, along with his long, blue-black hair. And her father's life ended with a thrust of the thin black sword the stranger held in his hand. The blood spilled, gushing onto the earth like no ordinary stab wound would have caused. The youth stepped back, pulling his blade out and cleaning it off on the freesias that Tia had grown, a look of distaste on his face.

She covered her mouth, emitting a small gasp that was still obvious enough for those cold gray eyes to turn and meet hers. He was young, maybe only a few years older than her, still in his teens. Still the cold, dead look in his gaze shocked her, enough for her to remember her father's last words. She fled; and for some reason, her let her.

Not knowing that they would come for her soon.

----

The finders pursued her now, their footsteps clattering noisily on the cobblestones.

They were obvious- so obvious. _Finders. _She sighed. Tia was on the way back from the restaurant that she worked part-time at, the job that had supported her for the past three years in England, Surrey, that helped her to maintain the small, cramped apartment which she had learnt to call home. She could control her innocence well now, well enough for her to hide it amongst normal people, and to destroy the Akuma that came her way occasionally, attracted by the smell of her innocence. The thorns vines always ripped right through the scars from the last activation of her innocence; but she had gotten used to the pain. Tia healed quickly now, the wounds closing up in a mere matter of seconds. She had never thought of calling herself "exorcist", the word that she disdained, that was connected in all ways to her past…

Now she ducked into a nearby alleyway, cloaking herself in the darkness, watching the finder's confusion with a tinge of amusement. When they drew near enough, she launched herself out from where she was hiding, easily dodging their clumsily-aimed attacks, and reciprocating with more well-timed ones of her own t their vital points, mainly the solar plexus, and the side of the neck. Her innocence would not be necessary. As she stood there, staring at the incapacitated bodies in distaste, a disbelieving british-accented voice spoke out from behind her.

"What? Out so soon?"

Tia spun around to behold a white-haired kid who was surely younger than her; but most importantly, she realized as her eyes dropped below neck level- he wore the uniform of a general, the gold stripes winking ominously up at her.

"I'm General Allen Walker, and I'm here to escort you to our base in Italy."


	2. First Sight

The journey was tiresome.

Tia had never seen them as others had - - she found them an annoying waste of time, disconcerting, too; not being able to feel the ground beneath her feet. That was the reason she always got motion sickness… and today's was no less annoying, added on to being mortifyingly _captured_ by General Allen Walker and his team – even after putting up a fight. Thereafter she was unceremoniously bundled into an airplane, on its way to Italy. Italy. She guessed they didn't want to spend too much time on her…

… AND she somehow ended up sitting opposite Allen Walker. Tia groaned, seating herself as comfortably as she could in one of the hard, narrow seats. Two finders immediately sat themselves down on either side of her, allowing no room for escape. She scowled at them, right before the plane took off. Then there was the horrible grinding of wheels on tarmac, and an unstable larch from the plane as it launched itself into mid-air. Tia ground her teeth against this motion; her stomach lurched. Allen, on the other hand, immediately started ordering everything on the inexhaustible menu.

"I'll have the beef risotto, mac and cheese, hot and sour soup…" -Tia lost track for a while- "… mango pudding. Make that two of everything." The air stewardess smiled ever-cheerfully before departing and Tia muttered something about people having something wrong with them. "Hey!" Allen defended himself. "This _is_ the Black Order's private airline, y'know." His gray eyes glinted merrily, a contrast to her current sour mood; that only fired her up more. "Well, why are you bringing me to your headquarters? Why me?" She pressed sharply, ignoring the air stewardess when Allen's huge order arrived, the smell of food only adding to her motion sickness.

"To train you to become an Exorcist. And because you are a compatible user of innocence. We cannot afford to lose any compatible users or innocence shards this time, at the peak of the battle." His tone became serious as he described the thousand year conflict between the Earl of Millennium, ancients and the Black Order: generals and exorcists alike. So enthralled was she that Tia didn't even notice the pile of plates gradually emptying, and after what seemed like minutes, the plane touched down, jolting Tia out of her trance.

"What? We're already here?"

"Yup," Allen finished his last mouthful of mango pudding and stretched with a groan of content. "That was a long story – it's all Lavi's fault. And I have to get back to HQ." Before Tia could marvel at the Black Hole that was Allen's stomach, she was distracted by a more interesting topic.

"As I told you earlier, each general has a group of exorcists assigned to them. Well, lucky for you, the General you've been assigned to is here at the airport with your _comrades_" – Particular emphasis on the word "comrades" by him – "to bring us back to the Black Order HQ."

She merely nodded.

"He will be in charge of your training, and well being. You report only to him, and the supervisors." Allen smiled, the expression immediately lit his face up. Tia was starting to like him; he was a good kid.

"And don't let yourself get pushed around."

Saying this, he extended his hand in the offer of a handshake. "Hi , my name's Allen Walker."

"Tia Stadfeld."

The consensus smoothed out the tension between them, and the jitters didn't start until she'd made it down the steps, and out of the airport. The real nervousness hit her only when she saw the waiting car, from the look of it built to be tank-resistant; heavily armored, with dark tinted windows, with a firmer-looking jeep behind it. A loud horn blasted as they approached, and the car shivered.

Ah, Kaye must be driving." Allen noted out loud. "Well, you can sit with your general in the back, I'll have to control her."

Allen threw open the front door and climbed in, greeting the sentence of "Oi, Moyashi!" with a sheepish apology. The voice that had uttered this was deep – Tia's hard froze on the handle.

"Come on, Tia, get in!" She steadied herself and pulled it open, sliding onto the cool leather seat, at first not looking at the man beside her, suddenly shy, smoothing down her long hair that had gotten messed up in the journey.

"Stadfeld, is it?"

And she looked up, into those cold, gray eyes that shed no emotion. Blue-black strands of hair that could only have grown longer, reaching to his slim waist now. His scent that she could now smell, this close in the confined space – of a cold winter's day, and – her mind flashed back to that day, four years past, pink lips carving into a silent denial. And yet _he _showed no emotion, merely staring at her blankly, his own lips twisting into what resembled a cruel, bitter smile.

The world narrowed.

Suddenly, it didn't matter anymore.

It didn't matter that there was an under aged, impossibly hyper red haired kid driving the car she was sitting in; that they could possibly crash. The only thing that _did _ matter was that the boy, man who had killed her father was sitting not more than inches away from her, and he was _alive. _The anger came, washing over her in a great tidefuls. There were a million ways she could have wished him dead then; she wanted to reach over and gouge his eyes out. The impulse was so strong that her fingers hooked into claws, but she resisted it, the sharp nails digging into the flesh of her palms instead. Her world came back again, the sound gradually filtering in.

"Yes," She gritted out through her teeth, looking down.

"Keh." Was his reply.

"You…" the word was drenched in venom, but Allen interpreted it differently. They were driving through the sun-drenched main streets now, and Tia forced herself to look out, the windows making it look like twilight instead of the summery afternoon it was, "His name is Kanda Yuu-"

This earned him a silent affirmation – "and he has problems, that explains why he's so emo and PMS-ing all the time."

The snigger that followed was cut off by a strangled yell, and the car swerved. Kanda had a Chinese-looking sword pressed dangerously close to Allen's throat, his eyes finally showing emotion, glinting with fury "If I had mugen –I'd-!"

Kaye giggled maniacally, somehow still having both hands on the wheel. "Calm down, Yuu-sama, I'm driving." Her buzzed expression looked like she was drunk, or on drugs.

OhGod.

Tia shut her eyes against the impending nausea as the ruckus continued.

----

She figured things couldn't get much worse after being sick from the car ride yesterday, not having a rested night, and being exhausted as a result.

Wrong.

The last thing she wanted to do was bump into Yuu Kanda, early in the morning. She'd taken a shower (Cold), and put on a basic white tank top and black pants she'd found in her closet.

Her room, and everything inside it, was standard issue which meant that it was pretty empty when she'd arrived. It mostly consisted of a narrow bed, a bedside table, a closet and a desk and chair in the corner; Tia figured that she'd accumulate more objects as time went on. Her hand closed on the cold metal doorknob, pausing there.

This was her home now; she was surprised at how easily she'd accepted this fact. Huh. Swinging the door open, she stepped into Yuu Kanda, the hilt of his sword banging painfully her stomach, and her face into his chest.

"OWW." His scent made her dizzy this early in the morning, and Tia impulsively stepped back.

"You-" She hissed, meeting his cold stare. "What're you doing outside my room?"

Kanda's hair was swept back in its usual neat style, and he already donned his general's coat. He seemed unabashed at the sudden body contact, and simply stared at her in distaste.

"Get dressed. We're going to see Hevlaska."


	3. Beginnings

Tia glared back at him, her moment of weakness gone.

"Get dressed? In what?"

Wordlessly, Kanda flung what he had been holding at her, not bothering to be polite in the least. "Thanks a lot," she grumbled, just barely catching hold of the paper-wrapped package, not wanting to make contact with his fingers. Still disconcerted, she slammed the door shut, not caring if he waited for her or not.

The exorcist's uniform fit perfectly; she was surprised they'd gotten her measurements exactly right. It was a short dress-like garment, black in color for the most part, with long sleeves and special gaps at the top of these to accommodate her innocence. A long zip at the front was the means of opening and closing the 'dress', and its material was something lightweight, made to last dirt, blood or whatever it might come in contact with. There was also a pair of long black socks and boots included, and she slipped those on. She left her hair as it was, only running a brush through it. Looking at herself in the mirror, she did a little pirouette. Not bad.

Sighing, she opened the door.

Kanda was still standing there, his back against the wall. His eyes narrowed at her appearance, making Tia even more annoyed. "Let's go." She snapped, not wanting to spend more unnecessary moments with the man. As he took a step away from the wall, she re-considered that.

"Wait." Tia held a hand out to stop him from moving, "Why did you kill my father?" Her eyes burned with undisguised fury.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kanda made to move, his eyes blank. His indifferent tone just served to make her angrier; Tia blocked any further movement of his by stepping close to him, and pushing a hand to his chest.

"Tell me." She demanded.

Kanda was annoyed now. He detested persistent idiots, much less idiots who dared to touch him, all the while bugging him about unnecessary stuff like this. But since the girl looked so outraged…he decided he would do her the mercy of leading her on.

"Because I felt like it."

"What?" Her eyes blazed.

"No."

"…?" Puzzlement crossed her face.

"I'm just messing with your mind."

"You…!" she sputtered.

Kanda had known Tia hated him, the very instant she'd set her eyes on him. Of course that wasn't the reason for her father's murder; just that watching her squirm was fun. Not that he'd had this much fun in ages…when he'd heard that she was half-japanese.

The corner of his mouth twitched, and went unnoticed. "Ahou da."

Tia glared. She knew enough Japanese for that. "Ahou ja nai!"

"Hontou no ahou."

"Atashi wa-" her sentence was cut off when Kanda backed her into the wall, putting his mouth near her ear while leaning over her menacingly. Her eyes widened, her lips still slightly parted. "Haven't they taught you not to talk back to your superiors, hmm…? His words made Tia's face heat up, Kanda observed, a shade of beetroot red.

"You are not - "

"Ah! Tia! Yuu-sama~!"

They both looked up.

Kaye came tripping along, her red hair sticking up in all directions. She folded her petite frame onto the ground in front of them, seemingly not noticing their now awkward position. "Komui-chin's frantic," she pouted. "that you two haven't turned up yet. But that's kinda obvious."

"All right. Go." Grinning cheerfully, Kaye bounced away.

Tia suddenly remembered how much trouble she was in as Kanda leaned in even closer. His scent, his heat…smothered her. Except that this wasn't an unpleasant smothering at all. She wished that he would come closer…

…and he did. She kept her eyes strictly focused on the blue-black locks of hair that flowed over his shoulder, as he whispered carefully into her ear.

"I'll tell you…someday."

With a cruel twist of his lips, Kanda stepped back gracefully, as if nothing had happened. That would keep her off his back. He could see that she was scared now, her midnight blue eyes wide, trembling against the stone wall.

"Let's go."

Apparently the ancient council wasn't exactly pleased to see Tia.

She, Kanda and a fussing Komui went through a set of huge doors, down a glowing green elevator that looked like a diamond cut in half, Tia still in a daze. What happened? She was supposed to hate him, to hate him to the very core of his being. At least that was how she had envisioned it. She hardly noticed Hevlaska reaching for her with glowing arms, and certainly didn't notice it till her feet were dangling in the air, and that light enveloped her.

"Waaa!" She flailed wildly with both arms and legs, failing to acknowledge the fact that this would probably risk her falling a thousand feet down before impact with solid ground.

"Don't panic, Tia-chan! She's not going to hurt you!" Komui was merely a tiny white speck waving its arms wildly, yelling out in useless, tinny assurance. Kanda merely tsked irritably, and she heard _this _loud and clear.

"Stop flailing, fucker."

The term made Tia's mouth gape open, but by this time she was already near Hevlaska. She wondered if someone like her could even be called a 'she', but kept her mouth shut as Hevlaska measured her sync rate, each glowing arm seeming to penetrate her skin and invade her being. There was no pain, but Tia did not like the feeling. It was as if something inside her was being probed, her feelings and thoughts exposed. She shuddered imperceptibly.

"5 percent…23 percent…54 percent…67 percent. 67 percent is the maximum sync rate."

Kanda snorted. They'd have to train really hard from now on.

Note: 'Ahou' means idiot.

[A/N: Sorry for the long (months-long) delay. This and all my other chapters were just sitting around, waiting for me to find a day to type them out. This is the day, I guess.]


End file.
